V8 Supercars – Whincup & Bourdais Dominate Armor All Gold Coast 600

Jamie Whincup was the benefactor of a similar problem that lost him the Championship lead two weeks ago after a polished win with Frenchman Sebastian Bourdais in the first 300km leg of the Armor All Gold Coast 600.

It means Whincup is back in front of the Championship with another 300km battle tomorrow.

“We’ve had a reasonably tough run over the last few rounds and lost the Championship lead which was pretty disappointing,” Whincup said. “I felt 100 points to my team-mate was like 300 points but today we got lucky. We don’t like seeing the 888 car in the pits but that’s the way their cards were dealt.”

Bourdais was outstanding in his second drive of a V8 Supercar having clinched tow of his four Champ Car World titles at this track in an open wheeler.

“I really enjoyed my ride. It has been a sweet weekend so far and I hope to carry the momentum into tomorrow. I am really happy for Jamie because I know how what it is to lose the lead in the Championship when you have done nothing wrong,” Bourdais said.

“I was hoping he could get back in it with a win like this and also I had a great time. We clinched two of them (Champ Car crowns) at this race and it was always very challenging and hard work. It requires a lot of commitment.

“There is no Championship pressure on my shoulders but at the same time you can really affect the Championship of your team-mate. It’s very different but when you win it doesn’t matter.

“It’s a crazy place and an awesome place to come and race. The crowd is great and it’s a fantastic atmosphere.

Lowndes’ day got off to the worst possible start – twice. In qualifying the electrical dramas began when he failed to get a single flying lap in, a drama exacerbated by a shower during the session that meant anyone who didn’t post a fast time missed the Amor All Shootout.

It meant Lowndes and Priaulx started from the tricky position of row 15 but they didn’t even manage that. Priaulx had more electrical issues on the warm-up lap and struggled into the pit to start from the rear of the field.

The team believed they had addressed the issue when they sent Priaulx back out but barely into his first lap he came to a crawl. Then it was race over. Despite numerous attempts to get back out they officially retired with the leader on lap 82 and them having completed just 24.

“That’s motor racing, you take the high and lows,” Lowndes said.

“We were talking Bathurst a few weeks ago going from that very big high to today. We’ve been chasing those electrical problems all day. Then we seemed to hit a bollard which went into the radiator. That’s life but we are looking good for tomorrow.”

A safety car on lap 50 left Tander in an interesting place. Briscoe had not yet done a third of the race that is required by international drivers but a safety car allowed him to change with Tander, do a single lap then come in and change again.

A second safety car threw more into the mix and most of the field pitted again for more fuel.

It left Jim Beam’s James Moffatt in the lead from Lee Holdsworth and Tim Slade but all three were struggling for fuel with Whincup stalking them from behind. Holdsworth and Slade had to pit leaving Moffatt on his own but also shifting Whincup into second.

Moffatt got more fuel on lap 89. Had he waited on more lap when a safety car was called he may well have been in the finish and bis maiden V8 Supercar podium.

The young son of great Allan Moffatt came out with fresh tyres and proceeded to blitz through the field in what was arguably the best race of his first year in V8 Supercars, finishing fourth with American Joey Hand.

“I had nothing left,” said Moffat. “Another couple of laps and I might have had those FPR cars which would have been pretty sweet. I’m proud of the guys, they took a bit of a gamble in the middle of the race and it almost paid off for us but I’ve got to hand it Joey, he did an awesome job in the first stint.”

Fabian Coulthard also charged home to fifth, while Greg Murphy, Rick Kelly, Michael Caruso, Jonathon Webb and Lee Holdsworth rounded out the top 10.